Hank Williams Jr. is on the search for a missing family heirloom in the form of a Remington Model 11/48 16-gauge shotgun. “Growing up, I spent a lot of time in South Alabama with my Granddad Sheppard. Now I’m looking for his shotgun,” Hank Jr. says. “I want to pass that old Remington down to my children and grandchildren.”
If you’re wondering what you might look forward to listening to in the 2nd half of 2019 in country and Americana music, let this be your guide. Here’s all the information Saving Country Music has been able to compile on the most anticipated upcoming releases, along with a more extensive catalog of releases, and the always juicy “rumor mill.”
If you want to voluntarily succumb to some culture shock and the strange clashing of two worlds, then try on for size pop star Selena Gomez buying a Sturgill Simpson CD from a local store amid an impending zombie invasion. What’s this all about? The scenario comes from the twisted mind of director Jim Jarmusch.
It’s now been over five weeks since Saving Country Music exposed numerous incidents of outright false reporting by multiple major news outlets when it came to the removal of Lil Nas X’s song “Old Town Road” from the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including from the supposed “newspaper of record” in America.
Featuring three days of live performances, local organizers didn’t take their chances booking expensive mainstream names with dodgy talent and tired acts. Instead the festival is doing what many regional festivals all around the country are doing, which is drawing their entertainment from the riches of the Texas and Red Dirt.
New music is coming from traditional-leaning mainstream country artist Jon Pardi, and he promises it will be loaded with fiddles and steel guitar, and exactly what country music’s twang lovers crave. “When I wrote that song, I knew the fiddle was going to count it off and we’re going to have a fiddle intro…”
Hank Williams III once said, “The older you sound, the more punk you’re being.” If that’s the case, then Rhiannon Giddens is the Johnny Rotten of folk music. The purpose of her latest record is to trace the lineage of traditional music back so far, the differences in expressions, vocal cadence, rhythm, and mood are almost imperceptible.
The tour bus of country star Travis Tritt was involved in a fatality accident late early Saturday morning (5-18) as he was leaving a performance at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina’s House of Blues. Neither Travis Tritt, nor anyone on the bus was injured, and the accident was not the bus driver’s fault. However two people died.
If you have a hankering for Hank and haven’t received your fill of music from the Hillbilly Shakespeare over the years, you’re in luck. BMG is getting ready to release a rare collection of Hank Williams archive material made in October of 1949 called “The Complete Health & Happiness Recordings.”
It doesn’t matter if Hank Williams Jr. wants to be in the Country Music Hall of Fame or not. What matters is if he belongs there, which he does. One of the reasons why Hank Jr. likely doesn’t care if the Hall of Fame honors him or not is because he’s the most obvious snubbing in the institution’s history, and he’s rightfully cheesed off.
Independent country singer and songwriter Michaela Anne has singed to North Carolina’s Yep Roc Records, and will be readying the release of a new album soon. The well-respected Nashville-based performer has regularly appeared on stage with artists such as JP Harris and Sam Outlaw, while forging her own critically-revered career.
A new biopic film about one of country music’s most interesting, iconic, influential, and troubled acts is being developed. Real life best friends Ethan Hawke and Alessandro Nivola are teaming up to play Charlie and Ira Louvin, known collectively as The Louvin Brothers, in a film adaptation of Charlie Louvin’s famous account, “Satan Is Real.”
Tyler Childers has just singed to Sony’s RCA Records in a partnership with his own imprint called Hickman Holler, and will be releasing his latest record called Country Squier on August 2nd. Along with the new album, Tyler Childers has announced a bunch of new tour dates dubbed the “Country Squier Run.”
“We policed the excessive number of ‘snap tracks’ and drinking songs, and we were increasingly more selective over which new songs got added and exposed,” says the program director. “In addition, we re-introduced a number of older gold titles back into the mix to try and achieve a better ‘mainstream’ country music mix.
Kentucky-born resurgent country artist and fast-rising star Tyler Childers is now a major label country artist. As first reported by Saving Country Music on Wednesday (5-16), and made official during a video premier Thursday, Tyler Childers is the newest signee to RCA Records, a division of Sony. He will release “Country Squier” through the label.
A sports program is coming to the most historic and iconic radio station in country music to fill the critical afternoon drive slot. 650 WSM-AM—The Home of the Grand Ole Opry and one of the primary reasons country music even exists as a popular enterprise—has hired long-time Nashville sports talk personality George Plaster.
We are starring straight at the future of mainstream country music ladies and gentlemen, and it’s fuzzy-faced, overweight, wearing duds acquired at a Bass Pro Shop, and possibly holding a red solo cup in its right hand. That’s right, we’re talking about Luke Combs, and after the release of his latest single, there’s no mistaking it now. He is the biggest thing in all of country music.
You gotta love when one of your favorite music artists starts massively screwing with you head with cryptic verbiage and imagery, making you rack your brand about what it might be all about. These days this usually means new music or some other big development is on the way, and that’s what fans of Tyler Childers are hoping for.
The Americana Music Association has announced the 2019 nominees for their annual Americana Music Awards to be held this September at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. In a video hosted by The Milk Carton Kids taped at Soundcheck Nashville on Tuesday, May 14th, four nominees in six categories were unveiled.
Fans of country music most all recognize the name of Bob Wills as the King of Western Swing. But if you’re listening to the music of Bob Wills, it’s often Leon Rausch you hear singing. A fixture of Western Swing for some 60 years and known as “The Voice of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys,” Leon Rausch has passed away.
Revered and prolific Americana performer and producer Joe Henry has Stage IV prostate Cancer. This was the revelation of the 58-year-old at a solo performance Saturday night (5-11) at Largo’s Coronet Theater in Los Angeles presented as “Singing new songs and old, casting as cold eye on life, on death.”
Marty Stuart, who’s the documentary’s lead contributor and a staunch preservationist of country music’s history, says the new film is “like the cavalry coming.” Marty Stuart says, “The traditional end of country music sometimes gets overshadowed by the contemporary … It’s an awesome gift.”
If you really want to test your mettle as a country music fan, if you’re one who thinks they can handle songs of heartbreak one after another like shots of Jack lined up across the bar, if you want to put your emotional capacity through the paces and stress test your country music heart, Matt Carson’s ‘No Regrets’ is the album for you.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Norman, Oklahoma native and Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill has released a new song for mom. Called “A Letter To My Mama,” the song is not some sappy ode similar to the cursive inscription you might find in a Mother’s Day card, it’s an honest, open, and thoughtful expression…
